National Park Service employees are not convinced the agency is succeeding with its mission, according to the latest Best Places To Work In The Federal Government rankings.
The Park Service stood 406th out of 427 federal agencies when employees were asked if their agency was accomplishing its mission, a question new to the annual survey. Within the Interior Department, only the Bureau of Indian Education and the Bureau of Indian Affairs ranked lower than the Park Service in this category of the survey that has been gauging the sentiments of federal workers since 2003. The Interior Department overall ranked 14th out of 16 agencies when that same question was asked.
National Park Service staff in Washington, D.C., did not respond Thursday when asked for comment on the survey's results.
Overall, Park Service employees' responses to the 2021 survey placed the agency 370th out of 432 agencies in terms of "engagement and satisfaction." That ranking was derived from employee responses to three questions:
- I recommend my organization as a good place to work.
- Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your job?
- Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your organization?
The Park Service's score for its workforce's "engagement and satisfaction" showed a slight drop from 2020, though it was an improvement from the 2013-2019 surveys. Still, there were other troubling scores compiled from questions Park Service employees answered for the survey. Overall, the agency ranked:
- 390th out of 431 agencies on the question of whether "leadership at all levels of the organization generates motivation and commitment, encourages integrity and manages people fairly, while also promoting the professional development, creativity and empowerment of employees;"
- 404th out of 432 agencies on the "level of respect employees have for senior leaders, satisfaction with the amount of information provided by management and perceptions about senior leaders’ honesty, integrity and ability to motivate employees;"
- 408th out of 432 agencies on whether "employees consider their workloads reasonable and feasible, and managers support a balance between work and life;"
- 386th out of 428 agencies on whether employees "believe they communicate effectively both inside and outside their team organizations, creating a friendly work atmosphere and producing high-quality work products;"
- 384th out of 428 agencies on whether employees thought they were adequately compensated for their work.
Park Service Director Chuck Sams, during his confirmation hearing last October, acknowledged morale of the agency's employees was low and that improving it would be his top priority.
At the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, Chair Mike Murray was not surprised by the survey's findings.
"It is disappointing but not surprising that the National Park Service continues to rate low in employee satisfaction," he said in an email Thursday. "The agency has been mired in the bottom 10-20% of the rankings for the past 20 years."
Why morale is so low was explored through a 2017 project, the NPS Voices Tour, which was designed to give NPS leadership a better understanding of employee concerns. The "Tour" evolved from face-to-face and web sessions, along with more than 200 anonymous submissions. Overall, the authors of the report met with or had correspondence from 1,249 Park Service employees.
A key point made in the report was that "[P]erhaps the strongest message that emerged from the Voices Tour was that participants need to see a response to what they have shared. We heard voices from people wearing thin from being asked to perform at a high level in the face of inadequate resources, competing demands, and in some cases, work environments rendered extremely stressful due to interperson behavior."
Authors of the report also stated that "[E]ven those who found the experience valuable expressed concern about whether any real action would come out of all the effort. Many expressed a sense of futility in participating as 'NPS keeps bringing people down here to get our opinion and nothing happens.' They say they have 'been through enough surveys and trainings' and now want to see tangible actions."
Sams was alerted to the contents of the report. Tim Whitehouse, executive director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, wrote Sams last November after he was concerned to say "the challenge of raising those dashed hopes will fall to you. It is not to late to answer the alarm sounded in the NPS Voices 2018 report."
"There is definitely an element in recent years of employees feeling overworked and undervalued as many parks have become busier than ever while budgets and staffing have not grown to meet the needs of serving visitors, maintaining facilities, and protecting park resources," Murray wrote in his email. "My observation has been that the vast majority of NPS employees are incredibly dedicated to the NPS mission of protecting park resources and serving visitors. However, these chronically low rankings sound the alarm that many in the workforce doubt that 'conserving the well being and satisfaction of its human resources' is much of a priority for the agency.
"The problem is bigger than any one leader and it will take multiple actions over a sustained period of time for the workforce to gain confidence that the agency is serious about addressing their concerns," he added.
Phil Francis, the past chair of the Coalition, agreed with Murray's points.
"I think the people who are there are working hard to achieve our mission," Francis said during a phone call. "I think people who work for the National Park Service remain dedicated public servants who love the national parks, love serving people, and are really wed to the mission of the service. The problem is we've lost over 3,000 jobs. With hundreds of millions of visitors, small staffs, budgets that are not adequate for day-to-day operations, it's hard to have good morale."
While the report said the Park Service's workforce jumped to more than 21,000 employees in 2021 from 12,556 the year before, Francis said the addition of park units in recent years necessitated even more employees.
"It's still short of the 23- or 24,000 people that once were there, even before the extra parks were added to the system," he said. "And so, you're still asking people to do more with less, and then throw in Covid, throw in inadequate housing levels. It's pretty hard to have good morale."
Comments
Chris, if the job was so horrible and you could get paid a lot more in the private world, why did you work for the NPS?
Me-
I guess you missed "Someone is screwing up royally." I'm not saying the employees are misplaced in their ranking of the service, I'm saying the organization must be really screwed up to take idealic locations and make them miserable.
Pointing a harsh judgemental finger at staff, leadership, agencies, or whatever is one thing - in particular from a safe distance online - but I see no realistic solutions offered.
Here are some quite obvious solutions most field employees can offer: 1) end the use of seasonal and subject to furlough employees
2) create a career path that rewards hard and quality work and promotes people much More rapidly
3) increase staffing and budget
4) resort area colas
5) regrade employees to acknowledge the actual complexity of work
6) force managers to actually do field work on a regular basis. as an interpreter, I've gone years without seeing a super or division manager from another division at a program or in a busy visitor center. The message it sends is that they don't think our work has much value
EC Buck..
The reasons for working for the NPS were many. Mainly- I wanted to help out and make our public lands a better place for all. Secondly I was in pursuit of a career I envisioned working until my fifties. And lastly- doing stonemasonry in Yosemite working trails was far superiror to any private job that would have payed more. Even with the politics. I actually knew I would be disabled in my fifties in this job but I reasoned I could limp on disability payments for a few years until cashing my social security at 63 and dying an early death from overwork. That was literally the plan.
Thankfully an autoimmunde disease forced me out of work. I am proud of the work I did for the NPS but happy I was forced out because of my health. Lookilng back at what the NPS has done and is doing- I would have hated a career with them
Better housing and a clearly path to full time work would help. Also eliminating the perks and entitlements of family members of the NPS who get hired as "legacy" hires with little to no qualification.
One year I had a roomate in a small room. Which was a little absurd considering the rent I was charged and the fact that not many grown men want to share a room... The problem with this room? No lock. I had no way to secure my possessions in any way. When I called the housing manager to request a lock be installed- she acted incredulous that I would want such a thing. Finally I asked- do you lock YOUR door? Silence....
I never did get a lock
EC Buck...
An example of workplace conditions.. In Yosemite above columbia point there used to be a switchback through a sandy section held with fence posts and wire etc. In 2010 the crew I was on replaced that with a stone stair case.. The top nine steps are mine. I apologize for the thinness of that work- we ran out of rock! But to the conditions- its sandy there, mostly full sun, and it was over 100 every day of the project. One day my boss hiked down from porcupine flat on a leasurly hike to "check" on us.. When He got to us- he noticed a small tarp being used for shade. He waked by and "brushed" his head against the tarp. He then commanded us to take down the tarp for "safety" reasons (leaving us in full sun in 100 heat working stonemasonry at altitude) He then went on to admonish us for a small radio we had as we were in his words "ruining the wilderness experience".... As he said this you could hear a dump truck slamming a dumpster back and forth with its back up alert sounding... LOL
This survey has had similar results as far back as I can remember, for years prior to any personal association with the NPS that I've had. Through those early years - early for me - and through the few years I spent as a summer hire back country dispatcher, and now since, and through the past dozen or so I've also been an NPS spouse.
I don't wish any snark back on the supervisors or peers I had as an employee, nor on my spouse's, as she continues with the NPS. With only an incredibly few exceptions, individuals have all been fair, well meaning, and cordial. [Those few exceptions have been egregious.]
For as many varied and incredibly different situations there are out there, there are an equally wide causative factors and/or possible solutions.
Funding, ideology, extreme situations in extreme locations... all have an effect on the survey. There are situations both under a microscope in public view equally as much as there are situations absolutely obscured from view in the distance and wilderness. I hate to appear disingenuous, despite my appeal above for suggestions, but there is no one correct and helpful answer. A general statement would be something like "everyone at every level needs to look at what they are doing and why, and to take baby steps to improve things." Too naive, but that's the world I find we live in. What can I say - I'm only 73, and haven't seen it all yet.